Women and MBAs

* The terminology was changed from "corporate officer" to "senior officer" in 2010 in an attempt to standardize across company type and provide Catalyst with more robust data. Catalyst has not found a statistically discernable difference in the overall officer population using these two terms.

How to cite this product: Catalyst. Quick Take: Statistical Overview of Women in the Workplace. New York: Catalyst, March 3, 2014.

27 Reader Comments

Rosa I. Riverasays:

1/6/2013 12:19:49

Where can I find information specific to Hispanic women in the Department of Veterans Affairs. I have found literature published by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion about the underrepresentation of Hispanic women in the Department of Veterans Affairs' workforce.

Hi, Cheryl,
In my workplace, 25 consecutive years of service is rewarded by granting employees an additional week of vacation time. Employees who have a "break in service" lose this benefit.
I would like to demonstrate that this policy is biased against women because women are more likely to have breaks in service due to caregiving than are men. Are there any statistics available to support this?
Thank you for your help.
Renee

A lot of countries or companies or positions have rules that require a certain amount of years. As you can see by our Women Leaving and Re-Entering the Workplace Quick Take (http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-leaving-and-re-entering-workforce), women do take time out of the workplace, so these delays could definitely cause challenges and biases for women.

If you want further information, please fill out this form:
http://www.catalyst.org/what-we-do/services/ask-catalyst
as that is the best mechanism for us answering your question. This is mainly a place to make comments, not questions. (We'll answer you a lot more quickly if you fill out the form.)

I like how this article is written. It is a direct representation of statistics allowing the readers to draw conclusions. I'd suspect most readers come across this page looking for data to back an agenda. To chime in with my conclusions:
1) With 71% of mothers and 94% of fathers working, who is raising our children? I don't care if it's the mother or the father, but we need to be investing more of our time in our most valuable national resource - our future talent pool. That can't be outsourced or left to a school system that doesn't seem to be providing results.
2) Women are over-represented in management/professional positions. Women are 47% of the workforce, but 51% of the management/professional positions in the US. Women are then only ~15-20% of senior positions. That number seems to identify a problem. It is interesting that 37% of MBAs were earned by women even though they are 47% of the workforce. The statistic that is missing that might help explain the executive gap is the % of women with MBAs who remain in the workforce. If only 60% of women with MBAs work, then the executive number is in line with education. If that number isn't so high, then there is either a potential problem with decision making for hiring at the executive level.

It's also good to note that these are high-level statistics. To really get understanding one would need to drill down into more details. For example, the stats show that 56% of our infants are likely home with someone other than their mother or father. Chances are that the nanny or daycare provider is a woman. That would then drive up the % of women in the workforce. I think when many people read % of women in the workforce they are thinking of corporate America, not daycare. Now I'm not sure if the % of women in the workforce includes daycare or sole proprietor cleaning companies which in my area seem to be women dominated. I also don't think we have visibility into how that translates into 51% of women holding the management/professional positions. They are statistics that are generally not fully understood unless you are willing to drill down into the sources and the details.

A lot of these statistics are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, so I’d really suggest you contact them for specific questions about methodology and statistical process. You can see all the sources of the Quick Takes and determine the source.

Here’s the contact info for the BLS:
http://www.bls.gov/bls/contact.htm

For more on working parents, you should def check out our Working Parents Quick Take which might answer some of your questions about working parents.
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/working-parents

Part of the reason women don’t break into some of these upper management roles is due to the glass ceiling, as well as workplace barriers. You might find some of our research, like our Double Bind Study (http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/double-bind-dilemma-women-leadership-damned-if-you-do-doomed-if-you-dont-0) or our Women Take Care, Men Take Charge study that looks at gender stereotypes (http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-take-care-men-take-charge-stereotyping-us-business-leaders-exposed).

If you have further questions, please do not comment here but rather fill out this form (http://www.catalyst.org/what-we-do/services/ask-catalyst) and one of our librarians will promptly respond to your inquiry.

I agree with Caroline. The pace of progress is not acceptable. I just came across the report of recommendations from the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission published in November 1995. Way back then the recommendations were the same or similar as what I've read in 2010 - 2013 reports from Catalyst, McKinsey & Co., Grant Thorton, on and on. And yet still, S&P 500 companies refuse to implement those recommendations in earnest. They are recommendations we know work because in the companies that have adopted them, we see results. The DiversityInc Top 50 published in June has great examples of the companies who have implemented the recomendations. What is it going to take for the rest of the S&P 500 to do so?

I suppose they have various reasons for not implementing, but I hope more companies will take a firm stance on diversity. We have lots of research that show that diversity impacts the bottom line - let's spread that message!

Hi Cheryl,
I am writing a book on women leaders and self awareness that includes information on role models. When I looked at the 2012 Catalyst Report, I did not find any breakout of women of color. I wrote to Catalyst and was told that information about women of color was included in the statistics and not broken down separately since 2007. Is that correct? Is the pie chart that you show here called Racially and Ethnically Diverse Women Working in Management and Professional and Related Positions in the U.S. not one of Catalyst's? I have found that women of color have fewer role models probably because there are fewer women of color at the top. Thanks for your reply.

In the future, if you have questions, please fill out this form: http://www.catalyst.org/what-we-do/services/ask-catalyst We will get immediate notifications and can respond much more quickly.

That data is from the BLS - check out the source below the image.
If you download our 2012 Fortune Census, you can see details of women of color on boards:
http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/2012-catalyst-census-fortune-500-women-board-directors

Your best bet is the 2012 Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry (EEO-1) from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Go here: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/employment/jobpat-eeo1/ and search the 2012 tables.

For National Aggregate numbers on banking, you might try searching the detailed NAICS-5 Code. For example, 52211 is Commercial Banking. Then look at the detailed data for gender and race/ethnicity under “First/Mid Level Officials & Managers.”

You can’t get as much detail under geography, but in the 2012 tables, search by States or major urban area (CBSAs).

In the future, if you have questions, please fill out this form: http://www.catalyst.org/what-we-do/services/ask-catalyst

We will get immediate notifications and can respond much more quickly.

i am a business adjunct prof pursuing my doctorate and i would like to know any statistics you have on the number of females in science, math, engineering, and technology in comparison to males in the US, particularly those born after 1980 (Gen Y,) thanks

Edith, this may be the information may be helpful.
Currently, females hold 48% of all jobs in the United States (U.S.) but employed in 28% of STEM positions Research reported males outnumber females by 73 % in all STEM jobs. Women hold 28% of STEM positions with 4% in engineering and 27% in computer and math Of the 28% female presence in STEM, 20% are non-African American, 4% are Asian American, 2% are African American, and 1.2% are Hispanic . I'm doing a similar research project

I am a doctorate candidate working on my dissertation in Hawaii. I would like to know what statistics you have on female executives residing in Hawaii in comparison to male executives in the U.S and Hawaii. Specifically. I am interested in adults between the ages of 18 to 65 years old.
Mahalo,

Hi Yvette. I recommend you check the 2012 Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry (EEO-1) from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Go here: http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/employment/jobpat-eeo1/ and search the 2012 tables.
You can find total employees for all industries and by industry, by high-level executives, mid-level executives and other occupations groups by gender, race and ethnicity, including Hispanic.

I am a college student and was assigned a paper on any subject i choose. I am writing it on women who are in the spot of a "normally" male dominant position. (sports, politics, jobs, etc.). and how they are treated by co-workers/teammates/society. I can't seem to find any information. Any information would help. thank you

For Carole and everyone else, if you are seeking data, please submit a request to the Catalyst Information Center here: http://catalyst.org/what-we-do/services/ask-catalyst

Unfortunately though Carole, we do not track that data in any reportable way, mostly because it ends up being a very big question. It is somewhat easy get profile data on whether CEOs have children at all, but if they are mothers of adult children who have long since stopped having an impact on a parent's work schedule, that might be far less interesting to what someone is researching than, say, a CEO who is currently a mother of a child under 18. Or under 6. Or under 3. Also, what about men? How many men CEOs in the Fortune 500 are fathers? Shouldn't that be a question we ask too?

Here are a few resources though:
See the section on marriage and children:
http://fortune.com/2014/07/08/women-ceos-fortune-500-1000/

About the topic but from 2010:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704763904575549842261018652

Working Mother discusses it here and might in additional articles:
http://www.workingmother.com/most-powerful-moms/most-powerful-moms-americas-ceos

I am writing an essay for my University about the factors which are contributing to gender segregation at senior management level and why there is far fewer woman than man at senior management level. Why the number of woman at senior management level is so little? Maybe there is some research or statistics, can you guide me where to find this? Kind regards, Ivana